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Topic: 100 pushups (Read 8018 times)

I have a goal and that is to be able to do 100 pushups. I haven't decided the rules completely but I am thinking no more than 5 seconds between each pushup. On 12/18 I was able to do 40 pushups so that's where I'm starting from. When I get to the goal I will post video proof.

Good goal. And pretty mustachian, no equipment needed. Back in 2008, I did the 100-burpee challenge and succeeded over a period of 4 months. I should've stuck with it, it is one of the best workout you can find. Now I do the reverse burpee workout abut twice a week on days I don't run, starting with one set of 10 burpees, then 9, 8, etc. until 1, at which time you've reached exhaustion.

We are required to have a fitness test annually (in the Coast Guard, the other branches have very similar requirements),in which you run a mile and a half in no more than 12:51, followed immediately by 30 push-ups and 38 sit-ups in one minute each. I usually try for 60 push-ups in a minute. The most I've ever done is 70 (a couple years ago), which is about the most there is time for in 60 seconds.Its never even occurred to me see how many I could do consecutively with no time limit, but I'm sure its less than 100

The concept behind the 100/push-up/pull-up/sit up etc. is very good. I used a slightly modified version to train prior to BMT for the Air Force. Since I was entering as an "old man" (35) I figured I should go in the best shape I could to try to make the whole process a little easier.

So, as someone who has been through the challenge, I would suggest a couple of tips.

Don't be in a rush to begin with. Focus on your form... Doing such a high volume of reps, if you practice it wrong repeatedly, it will make it more difficult later on.

Breathe! So many people hold their breath. I the beginning this wont be a problem, however beyond 30 or so reps, this kills your progress. I personally prefer slow breathing,but go with what works for you. I tend to breathe in on 1,2 out on 3,4,5,6 etc. This matters a lot and would say breathing is the difference between 80 and 100.

Understand that once you can do 60 push-ups with good form, it is very little to do with muscular strengthandmuch more about muscular endurance so the goal is not be stronger, but more efficient.

@bakari, you are right it is difficult to do more than about 70 within the minute...it becomes more about "gaming" the test. I have found that by restricting my form for purposes of the test to exactly the movement required (I tend to go deeper when I train for strength) and also stopping marginally before complete lock out at the top make a big difference to the number you can crank out. A good way to practice is with a metronome. Oddly enough it is more difficult to do 60 slow push-ups timed exactly in a minute than it is 100. Doing them slowly you lose momentum.

Great to see people do this. Doing 100 consecutive push-ups with good form requires a lot of work, but it is doable! Good luck everyone! My next goal is the 50 pull ups challenge...holy smokes that one is tough!

Cool! I'm in! This is exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for!

I did boot camp classes for most of last year (1hr/wk)(and I loved it). So, I'll be interested to see how many pushups & squats that I can still do (haven't done any in about 2months). I'm gonna start tomorrow :D

When I was training hard, I would set my watch to go off every hour. When the timer hit I would drop down and do X amount of pushups (started at 40 and added ten every week or so) every hour. Over a ten hour period you end up doing 400 - 800 pushups depending on how many you are doing. It builds great strength while allowing you to recover for a full hour. Explaining why youre doing this to your friends or co workers is a bit awkward tho....but hey, we're mustachians, we're weird anyway

I started this a little over 2 weeks ago. I had to repeat week 1 twice. I'm going the 'pushups' against a desk as I can't even do one girly (knees) pushup. I figure I'll get to some respectable number of pushups against the desk, then go to the girly pushups and get up to 100 of them, then go for the full pushup. I just did the first day of week 2 and my arms hurt.

That's actually how my wife started out a few months ago. At this point she can do the knee pushups without too much trouble. Just about killed herself trying to do 100 in a day a week or so ago; she was successful but sore for a while.

On trouble we noticed was she had fairly bad form with push ups in general; caused her elbows to hurt whenever she tried to do them. We found that doing what we called "cobras" (hip on the ground push ups) helped out significantly with that aspect.

I started Week 1, Day 1 this morning :) Huzzah! And what a good day to start it on ;) (It's Jan 1st here already)

I decided to try with push ups, squats and situps (crunches, really) to start with. I do push ups from the knee (I can only do about 5 proper push ups, but they're not very good form). I find squats fun (yeah, what??), but situps will be the hardest for me, I think.

It is my upper arms and pectoral muscles that ache. This morning is sometimes feel like there is tearing in there, but I figure I just have to start slowly. Sad that 5 sets of no more than 3 pushups against a desk causes this much effect. On the plus side, I also feel a bit of swelling and elasticity is coming back.

For anybody who is interested in having a formal regimen for completing this challenge, hundredpushups.com has a 6-week training routine to build up to one hundred. You can repeat weeks as necessary to go at your own pace. They also have programs for 200 squats, 150 dips, and 200 crunches.

It is my upper arms and pectoral muscles that ache. This morning is sometimes feel like there is tearing in there, but I figure I just have to start slowly. Sad that 5 sets of no more than 3 pushups against a desk causes this much effect. On the plus side, I also feel a bit of swelling and elasticity is coming back.

That's pretty normal. The tearing feeling is actually tearing, which is what stimulates muscle growth. If you don't feel that the next day, you probably didn't work out hard enough. And it may be "only" 5 sets of 3 now, but you have to start somewhere, and beginners generally experience the fastest gains.

I'm in! Started the 'hundred pushup challenge' yesterday. I am doing the program modified with knee pushups then will do standard after if I am successful (edit, when i am successful). I completed the 'test' with 18 pushups yesterday and today I am all kinds of sore in the armpits.. exciting! Will start day one tomorrow. Thanks folks!

I did get quite hung up in week 5 of the push-ups...probably over training - I actually decreased quite a bit! Since I've gone from doing 3 workouts to 1 workout every 4 days I've begun gaining again. Currently completed Week 5, Day 2 (column 2) and got 44 on the max last set.

Squats have been going fairly well. Currently completed Week 6...day 2 (column 1) with 66 on the max last set.

I did Week 2, Day 2, easiest column today. Again, I'm still doing them against a desk, not on the floor. I was amazed that I was able to finish all 5 sets. I went in with the idea that 'well, I'll do what I can' and managed it all. I was smoked when I was finished, but I did it. Onward.

Finished the Week 2 exercises. I was again smoked by the 5th set. Not as badly as after my first time through Week 1, though, so I think I'll go for the Week 3 sets next week. I had assumed I might have to repeat all weeks twice to work up to moving on. I'm also not as sore, and my back doesn't hurt as often as it was starting to before I started my exercises.

I forgot to do the pushups yesterday, so I tried today. I committed to Week 3 before I looked at what it was. I wasn't ready to make the jump to 10, even against a desk. So, I tried adding 1 to Week 2 day 3. I didn't even make it that far. Just didn't feel right today, it hurt and my wrists creaked. So, I did what I could and I'll try again Thursday.

I remember hearing or reading that strength trainers need to be careful because tendons get stronger much more slowly than muscles, so if one is attempting to get to really heavy weights too fast it is easier to pull or tear a tendon. Perhaps what is what we are feeling/hearing. I'm just going to slow way down. Whenever I've tried to get stronger in the past I ended up getting worse instead of better at the machines in the gym. So, I don't want to stop this time, just slow down.

I decided to join this 100 pushup challenge and 50 pullup challenge.Pushups: I did 48 straight pushups and then hit failure. I'll expect that to increase in the future.

Pullups: I did 21 GOOD pullups (no kipping, elbows straight when I'm in the down position, chin always above the bar). I have always been very good at pullups though. I agree that 50 pullups is almost impossible for 99% of people. I saw a youtube video of a guy doing 47 pullups before, but he was tiny. That doesn't take away from the achievement, but smaller guys usually do better on bodyweight movements like this. I'm 215 lbs

I also got 2 friends to join in on the pushups challenge - looking forward to it!

I was able to do 3 sets of 5 desk pushups. Still not as good as last week, but better than Tuesday. Slowing down but not stopping... also, my wrists didn't creak and pop quite as much. I was more connizant of my form today, sticking my butt out a bit more on the down moves.

I'm trying the Grease The Groove approach with the same goal. GTG is lots of 75% of max reps sets through the day (I'm doing a set every hour or so aiming for 10 sets a day). We shall see how it works.

I had one of the women officers who came through here check my form. She suggested I move my hands in closer together. That may be what changed when I suddenly couldn't do as many, I moved my hands too far out. I ended up hurting my back while showing her my pushups, part of the issue lately as well. I am not stopping, just slowing down.

You can use your cell phone to take a video of yourself and watch it afterward to check out your form. I've been doing 1 set (as many pushups as I can do) every other day. My max number has gone up by 50% already after 1 month so it seems to be working.

The rules I'm using is you can take a breather but your body must stay in proper form (no knee on the floor or butt in the air). No more than 5 seconds between reps.

After I told people that I was doing push ups, albeit lady ones, and got made fun of.. And Mum said that in her 40s, she would do 75 man push ups every morning.. Well, I felt weak. So I've made the change XD

I think the last time I tried to do some pushups I stopped at 20, and the last 5 were difficult. I'm going to have to sign up for this as well. I remember when I used to be able to knock out 100 without even breathing hard... 10 years ago :(

I'm late to the challenge but I'll join in anyway. I used to be in the Army, and haven't even tried any pushups in about six months. (That was approximately the last time I did any workout other than daily walks) I don't even know how many I can do!

Alright, I confess that I didnít do it! I completed my Ďfinalí test today following 10 weeks of hard work. (I started November 13th. I was able to achieve 57 consecutive pushups. Rather than telling myself that I only reached 57% of my goal...I prefer to say that this represents a 228% increase from where I was! I have noticed that my total number of pushups has been going up consistently each week - but January only saw a change from a max of 52 to a max of 57. I'm finding it quite hard to do the one of exhaustion test (even with a warm up). I'm wondering about changing up the training? Does anyone else have a suggestion besides 100pushups.com?

Other things I noticed: Iím a fairly consistent lifter of weights and was a little concerned during this challenge that my strength would decrease; especially since I dropped the weights altogether about 4 weeks in when it became clear that the pushup routine required significant recovery in and of themselves!

Surprisingly, this turned out to be totally false! I tried some incline and flat dumbell pressing exercises today and found I was about the same strength-wise only better! Better insofar as I had exhibited Ďsuper humaní recovery between heavy sets. Thus, the endurance/strength training transfer associated with pushups has really been positive! I also noticed that I lost 4.5 pounds and bodyfat went from 10.1% to 9.3%!

While the overall results are certainly not bad, I will continue with this challenge until I achieve the goal of 100 consecutive pushups.

I approach body weight exhaustion tests much like 1RMs when I weight lift. I rest for 24-36 hours before hand, make sure I have a good night's sleep, but I've been awake for at least a couple hours, etc.

If anyone needs a good pull up bar cheap Aldi has one for 12 bucks. It's sort of like the p90x one. I got it for my guys because I can only do a few. I think I will join you all here and start at the bottom. Man I love the fitness is almost free.

I've started doing pushups for the first time since middle school gym class. I've slowly increased the number I'm able to do, but it's absolutely killing my wrists. I've watched a few YouTube videos and don't see a problem with my form; is this a fairly common issue or am I missing something?

I used to have wrist problems with pushups, it's partly a matter of finding the exact hand placement etc that works for you and partly a matter of manning (or womanning as applicable) up and doing them.

Of course I sprained my shoulder snowboarding (probably shouldn't have tried to go between those two trees) so doing any pressups ****ing kills but I haven't had wrist problems for quite a while.